From The Ashes Grow The Roses
by BR0KEN-TYPE-WRITER
Summary: Yumi's parents are murdered, Lyoko has been shut down, and yet the gang is falling apart. Re-written check back for updates
1. Mourning

Chapter One - Mourning

Yumi awoke to find herself in Ulrich's arms. Was she really alive? Did they really save her, or did Ulrich? Why…she jumped into the digital void, why did he save her? She would have died anyways, no cure for radiation, or at least none had been invented yet, nor would they be able to invent one in enough time to save her. Yumi looked around at her surroundings; she was in the scanner room, and only Ulrich was there with her.

"Ulrich, why am I still alive!? I jumped into the digital void, why save me; I'm going to die in time anyways!" She exclaimed, looking up at him. She tried to get up but he gently pushed her back down.

"No you won't Yumi; X.A.N.A. has done his job already. And besides, everyone else is dead in your family; I didn't want to lose you too." Ulrich said turning away so Yumi didn't see his face.

"But I- Wait…what did you say" Yumi asked as horror stuck her face. She noticed Ulrich's red eyes begin to brim with tears.

"Yumi, your parents are dead…"

She wanted to be dead to the real world. Just like her parents and her little brother, only they were gone for good, all because of X.A.N.A. She lie on her bed in her dorm; face covered in tears and eyes red rimmed and glossy.

'Why me…' She cried, 'Why did this have to happen to me…?

A soft rapping on the door filled her head and jumped her back into reality. She already had a good idea on who it was, but she let him come in anyways.

"It's open," Yumi said in a teary voice. A brown headed boy poked his head into the room and saw his friend lying on the bed.

"Yumi?" He said "The dinner bell just rang, are you coming down?"

"No, I'm not hungry." The sound of Ulrich's voice reminded her of her little brother, Hiroki, and made visions of her family pop into her head once again. This made the tears stream harder down her pale face. Ulrich walked over and sat down next to her on the bed, his hand touched her back. She let it stay there.

"Yumi, I know this is hard for you but, be thankful you have parents that care about you. I mean, all my parents care about is for me to get top grades and to become lawyers like them." Ulrich said. Realizing he hadn't helped much, he fixed it to a happy ending, "What I'm trying to say Yumi is that your parents love you and care about you, and I would do anything to have parents like yours."

"You mean, did." Yumi corrected him. Before Yumi could finish what she was about to say, Odd Della-Robia popped his head into the room finding Ulrich and Yumi. While Odd would normally crack jokes about the two, especially with how close they were, he knew that now wasn't the right time.

"Hey Ulrich, Yumi, come on the dinner bell has rung, are you comin' or not?"

"I'm more tired than I am hungry; I think I'll just stay in my room." Yumi said. Ulrich glanced down at Yumi; debating whether to go or not. Yumi answered for him.

"Just go Ulrich; I'd rather be alone anyways." She faced her pillow again.

"If you're sure Yumi…" He still debated whether to go or not.

"Yeah, I'm sure." Yumi said sternly. Finally convinced that Yumi was not in the mood, the boys decided to respect her privacy and mourning and head to dinner.

Before getting up, Ulrich slid his hand up to Yumi's shoulder. Leaning down, Ulrich whispered in his best friend's ear: "I'll always be here if you need to talk. Remember that." And with that, the young teenager got up to join his friend for dinner.

When the boys left, Yumi sat up, and started to dig for something under her bed. Like Ulrich, she also kept a diary but only wrote about the bad stuff that has happened in her life; like the day she moved from Japan to France when she was five. Only that bad time turned into something good; in seventh grade, Yumi met Ulrich and the rest of the gang. She had trouble finding a blank page in her book, seeing how she's had this book for over twelve years now. Though most of the bad situations that were written were either stupid or turned into something good; Yumi knew that this was the only journal entry that would stay as sullen as the day she wrote it.

Picking up her pen, Yumi began a new journal entry:

_April 26, 2005_

_My parents are dead and Aelita has finally been materialized. We shut down Lyoko tomorrow for good. Personally, I wish I was still on Lyoko and being shut down with it. Of course, I knew __Ulrich__ wouldn't have allowed that to happen. He's always worried about me and does whatever he can to protect me. It's as if he doesn't think I can make decisions on my own._

_I know my writing sounds like I hate Ulrich and all, but I really don't. He cares for me like I care for him. I guess I'm just taking the death of my parents harder than I expected; especially Hiroki's death. I mean sure, we fight with each other when he gets into my personal life and such, but every sibling does that, I even do that with my friends. _

_I guess I should be happy my grandparents are paying for me to stay in a dorm at Kadic. Sometimes I want to move back to Japan, but I know moving will only remind me what I have lost._

Yumi heard then dinner bell ring again ending dinner.

_I know my life has been severely and emotionally scarred, but I can't help but to agree that Ulrich is right. Though my parents and little brother a big pains sometime, I know it's because they loved me and cared about me and were willing to anything to keep me safe. I just wished they didn't have to die to prove it_.

Yumi closed her journal and put it back under her bed. Slowly, she climbed out of her messy and unmade bed, kicking piles of dirty clothes, books, and other supplies out of her way as she went to her closet. Though she was raised on cleanliness, Yumi didn't find keeping a tidy room an important matter at this time. She stripped off her day clothes, dropping them on the floor, and pulled on her pajamas. Making her way back to her bed, the young Asian girl pulled her wrinkled covers over her head and slowly closed her eyes.

* * *

Hello Readers,

I'm sorry I have neglected this story for the past three years. In my hopes that those of you who are still following will forgive me, I have re-written From the Ashes Grow the Roses and will promise to update as frequently as I can. Thank you for all the reviews, I will do my best to finish it.

[BR0KEN-TYPE-WRITER]


	2. Tears of Joy and Sorrow

Chapter Two - Tears of Joy and Sorrow

Nobody was surprised when Yumi didn't eat breakfast that morning. Nobody was surprised when Odd ate her breakfast for her. Nobody was surprised to see Yumi's eyes still red from crying, and still kept her head down so nobody noticed. The rain feel down heavily outside, but not as heavy as the tears Yumi cried when she was alone. Aelita wasn't sure why Yumi's eyes were so red, being new to the world in all, and was about to question Yumi when Jeremie stopped her with an acute nudge.

Yumi looked up just in time to see her friend silence the pink haired girl. Pulling her hood over her face, Yumi stood up and shrugged her backpack on. "I'll walk you to class today, Aelita. I want to talk to you about something."

"But, Yumi, you're a year older than us and her class is on the other side of the campus from yours." Jeremie objected.

"Don't worry; I was planning on walking to her class anyways. Madame Emilie won't mind if I'm late, given the circumstances and all. Besides, I need to chat, girl-to-girl."

With a small smile touching her soft, rosy lips, Aelita donned on her pink raincoat, grabbed her bag, and followed Yumi out of the cafeteria.

The boys didn't see Yumi for the rest of the day, and none of them pestered Aelita about what they talked about.

School finally ended and Jeremie headed back to his dorm. In the middle of struggling through his Italian homework, he received a small knock on his door. On the other side, he saw Aelita who's were just as red as Yumi's; tears falling down her gentle face. Jeremie beckoned his friend into his room, clearing off space so she could sit on his bed. He sat next to her.

They sat in silence for a while before the pink haired girl finally spoke up.

"Jeremie, why are my eyes red like Yumi's, and what is this wet stuff on my face?"

"They're called tears; you get them when you're sad. And your eyes are red because you've been crying so much." Jeremie explained handing her a tissue.

"So Yumi's eyes are red and she has tears in her eyes, because…she lost her family?" Aelita asked wiping her tears away with the tissue.

"Exactly," Seeing how this conversation was making Aelita cry all over again, Jeremie quickly changed the subject. "Hey Aelita, don't you think we should shut down the supercomputer now?"

"I wouldn't want to wait for X.A.N.A. to send us an invitation." Aelita teased remembering that day last year when they discovered Aelita had a virus. Jeremie who, surprisingly, also thought it was funny, laugh with her as they went to gather the rest of the gang.

Odd was bouncing with joy when they told him it was time, Ulrich however said that he would meet them there and he would get Yumi for them. When Odd, Jeremie, and Aelita had left for the factory, Ulrich walked quietly downstairs to the girl's dormitory.

He softly knocked on Yumi's door and heard only a very quiet come in. Just as softly as he knocked, Ulrich opened the door to find his friend in the same position as last night. Instead of sitting on the bed like last night, he took a few steps forward into the room and laid a small box on her nightstand. Yumi didn't notice. After what felt like two hours of just standing there, Ulrich finally said something.

"Uh, we're going to shut down the super computer now, are you coming?"

"Of course, I don't really have a choice do I?" Yumi said, not bothering to face her friend.

"Well actually yes, I mean, no one is forcing you to go, we just thought you might want to be part of shutting down Lyoko for good."

"I guess I should go, even though I wish I could be in Lyoko when you shut it down."

"Stop saying that Yumi!" Ulrich raised his voice, irritation rising. "You know damn well that isn't true at all."

"How would you know? And besides, I actually have a full right to blame you for my parent's death!"

"WHAT?!" Ulrich practically yelled.

"You heard me." The young Japanese girl got off her bed to face her friend; brown eyes glowering. "If I hadn't have met you or Odd or Jeremie, we would have never found Lyoko or Aelita; I wouldn't have gotten radiation from the god damn scanners, and my parents would still be alive!" Yumi was panting so hard from hysterics that she collapsed on the floor sobbing.

Ulrich didn't know what to do; he was feeling so many emotions at once. One part of him wanted to hit Yumi for saying that, another part wanted him to run away and cry, and the final part of him wanted to sit next to Yumi and talk everything out. He did no of them. He just stood there; his mind as blank as his expression.

Finally, he spoke.

"Like I said earlier, no one is forcing you to go, but it would still be nice if you came." And with that, Ulrich walked out of the room and to the factory. His eyes too had become red and soon tears began to fall.

"Well it's about time you showed up Ulrich, or we would have started the party without ya!" Odd said to his friend. Ulrich kept if face down.

"Where's Yumi?" Aelita asked looking around.

"Not coming, are we going to shut down the supercomputer or not?" Ulrich asked impatiently.

"Uh yeah, right now, do you want to do the honors Aelita?" Jeremie asked.

"Why don't we all do it together? After all, you all found Lyoko and risked your lives to make me real; it wouldn't be fair if I did the best part." Aelita said.

"Princess right Einstein, why should she get to do the fun stuff?" Odd put is hand on the lever with Aelita, followed by Jeremie and then Ulrich.

"Ok, on three we shut down, ready? One, tw-"Jeremie began

"Wait," said Odd," Is it one, two, three go, or one two go?"

"It's uh, oh never mind, just pull the lever!" All four hands pulled down on the lever. The supercomputers lights flickered for a few moments before turning off completely. Aelita didn't faint or pass out; she just stood there like any normal human being. A few seconds after, everyone cheered; Odd danced around, Aelita hugged Jeremie, and Ulrich, who didn't have a humor side to him, just pressed his lips together and smiled meekly.

If Yumi had been there they probably would have hugged each other, but she was back in her dorm sulking and blaming Ulrich for all her parent's death.

After an hour or so of celebrating, Odd reminded them of tonight's dinner of spaghetti and meatballs; his favourite. Walked up to the cafeteria, everyone asked Ulrich where Yumi was and if she was planning on coming to dinner.

"No, she's not." Ulrich spoke in a very monotone voice. "She just needs some time alone." Those were the last words anyone got out of Ulrich for the rest of the night.


	3. What Have I Done?

Chapter Three - What Have I Done?

She sobbed and sobbed for hours once again, late into the night. It wasn't until eleven forty-five that she sat up discovered the box on her night stand.

Slowly, Yumi reached her shaky hand over to the table and grabbed the small box.

It was plain and square, and it didn't have any writing on it or any form of significance. No, it was just a small and plain blue square box. When she opened it, she saw a silver heart shaped locket with a Japanese haiku engraved on it:

_Winds blow, flags flutter_

_Life, death, and change swirl about_

_Your mind is moving_

Yumi glanced up, her mind moving; turning round and round as if it was a in a whirl pool. Life, death. Her family died, she was still alive be yearned to be dead. To be with her family again.

But the more she thought about it, the more she wondered,

'Is death what I really want? My family is dead, but I'm not. I took an oath to protect the world, if I break that oath, then I am more than dead.'

Her tears stopped, her red eyes cleared, her heavy breathing stilled. Yumi put the necklace back in the box and hid it in her night stand.

She knew she should tell Ulrich she was sorry but she just couldn't do it, at least just not yet. To Yumi, it made no sense; Ulrich was…is her best friend, why couldn't she just apologize to him like she did in the past? Her life just didn't make sense anymore, as if she wasn't who she used to be.

Yumi walked over to her full length mirror and looked at herself; long thin body, bony fingers that matched her torso, short black hair, and clear dark brown eyes; serious, yet softened face. It was the same appearance, but at the same time it wasn't.

She had changed a great deal, and she knew it. For better or for worse, she wasn't sure yet. Suddenly Yumi remembered the package that her grandparents sent along with the money for board at Kadic. Digging through her unorganized closet, she pulled out a rather large package.

In the box she took out two identical cream coloured balls hanging on translucent strings. The first ball had a painting of a young girl, about ten years old, with long, dark blackish-brown hair and sparkling, almond-shaped brown eyes. Next to her was a seven year old boy with a big smile plastered on his face; never to be removed. On the bottom of the ball written in black ink with a Japanese calligraphy pen were the names of the children:

Yumi Kohana Ishiyama and Hiroki Yasashiku Ishiyama.

The second ball had a panting of a man and woman with smaller more business like smiles. Like the children, their names were written just below their portraits:

Takeo Mamoru Ishiyama and Umeko Kaiya Ishiyama.

Yumi took the balls and put them on her bed while she rummaged around in her drawer for hooks and string. She then hung two pieces of string from the curtain rod then tied two hooks to the string. On the hooks Yumi put the two cream coloured balls and positioned the so she could see all four faces and names.

After, Yumi went back to the box and took out other things her grandparents sent her. A package of photos from when she lived and visited Japan, a wooden spoon from her very first cone of sweet ice, her first kimono, a pair of Geta sandals that, surprisingly, still fit her, and many more memories.

All things of her past that she never wanted to see again. Or did she? All of those things altered her life in one way or another. Just like Ulrich, Jeremie, Odd, and Aelita.

Looking at her clock; the seventeen-year-old noticed that it was already a little past one o'clock in the morning. Time had gone by so quickly and Yumi was thankful it was Saturday and only had a half a day of school.

As Yumi slipped into bed, she wished she hadn't had been so mean to Ulrich; to all of her friends. She wished her hand pulled the lever with them and shut down Lyoko once and for all. She wished she hadn't thrown such a temper tantrum and accused her best friend of something she knew wasn't his fault.

Although she was too scared to admit it out loud; Yumi loved Ulrich. And she knew that feeling was never going to go away. It wasn't Ulrich's fault that her house burned down, it wasn't Ulrich's fault that she got radiation; she never even had radiation. It was all a trick, so Yumi would jump into the digital void, distracting the gang long enough so X.A.N.A. could kill Yumi's family.

Even though Jeremie and the gang saved her, her parents were dead and there was no way to bring them back. But that was okay now; though her parents' bodies were no longer with her, their love for her would always remain in her heart, the smiles in her mind. And she could live with that.

xXx

Ulrich left dinner early that evening; shoving his untouched food at his scrawny, yet ravenous, room mate. Instead of returning to his dorm, Ulrich walked around for a while, visiting his favourite spots on campus.

And re-visiting all the memories that remained there.

He walked by the garden shed where he, Odd, Yumi, and Jeremie had all hid to play a joke in Sissi and Hervé. While the first joke he and Odd played on Sissi ended in disaster, a return to the past fixed it all. Stopping by the bush, Ulrich remembered the private smile he and Yumi shared while the rest of the gang continued to laugh.

Next he reached the manhole where the gang made their secret escapes from school to get to Lyoko. He couldn't believe how much time had passed since they first discovered Lyoko and Aelita.

And when he first met Yumi…

Giving a heavy sigh at the though of her name, Ulrich continued his walk to the front gate of the school where the gang normally met Yumi in the morning before breakfast. While most of the gang normally greeted Yumi, there were those days that Ulrich greeted her alone; brought her an umbrella on rainy days, talked to her if she was feeling day, and would even walk her to class when he wasn't already in trouble.

But those days were long gone…

Ulrich knew that his and Yumi's relationship had changed, but whether it was for the best or the worse…time would only tell.

Before heading back to his dorm, the young teen looked up at Yumi's dorm. Her light was off and the curtains were shut tight; the way they had been ever since she learned about the loss of her family. Giving a silent apology, Ulrich entered the dormitory building and made his way back to his room.

Unlocking the door, Ulrich flipped on the light only to shut it off a second later and slam the door, rather loudly, behind him. Giving a frustrated yet heavy hearted sigh, Ulrich collapsed on his bed, not bother to take off his shoes or change.

"I love you, Yumi…" Ulrich whispered as he closed his eyes, tears slowly creeping down the side of his face.


	4. A New Day

Chapter Four - A New Day

Dim, dim, dim, dim, dim, dim.

Jeremie, Odd, Aelita, and Yumi all reached up and turned off their alarm clocks.

Six o'clock in the morning, time to get ready for the new day.

But, what about Ulrich? Why did he just lye in bed and not get up and get ready?

...Yumi...

That name echoed in his head so loud he didn't even hear his alarm clock go off. He didn't even notice Odd get up and turn it off. However, he DID notice when Odd pored a bottle of _cold_ water on him.

"ODD!" Ulrich screeched." What the hell was that for?"

"Ulrich, calm down will you!" his room mate said "Its 6:05 in the morning already, come on get up before the showers are full and they run out of hot water…not to mention breakfast!"

Odd gasped suddenly remembering about his favourite hobby and grabbed his robe, slippers and tooth brush and ran to the showers.

Ulrich sat up in bed, his feet hanging off the side. He put his hands in his head massaging his temples. Ulrich was still pretty hurt from what Yumi had said to him yesterday evening. He desperately wanted to hate Yumi, but at the same time he wanted to do nothing more than forgive her.

He could relate with his parents treating him like crap, but he knew that didn't even come close to loosing both your parents and little brother. It must have been hard enough oh Yumi with her parents getting a divorce; her father taking Hiroki, and her mother taking her, not to mention both of them moving to different parts of Japan. At least Ulrich's parents were still together and did love him, regardless of how deeply it was buried in their hearts…

Just then, out of the corner of Ulrich's eye, he saw a black shadow. When he looked up, the shadow disappeared. At first he thought it was Odd or Jeremie checking in on him but it didn't look like a person's shadow at all. It looked more like a shadow of smoke; translucent and black.

'X.A.N.A.?' Was the first thing that crossed the teenager's mind.

No…It couldn't be. They shut down the supercomputer; there was no way X.A.N.A. was attacking the school.

Unless…

Shaking the pointless thought from his mind, Ulrich finally got out of bed and peeked out his door.

The shadow was completely gone.

Suddenly, Ulrich felt a presence behind him. Having no idea who was behind him, Ulrich turned around quickly in fighting stance like he learned in Pincak Silat. Just as he was about to punch the living daylights on whomever the person was, he realized it was Jim!

"Ulrich! What are you doing? Why aren't you in the showers like everyone else?" Jim yelled.

"Sorry Jim," Ulrich apologized, "I'm going right now." Ulrich quickly grabbed his robe and tooth brush and ran to the shower room.

In the showers, Ulrich thought up the brilliant idea of drowning himself. But then he realized that wouldn't solve anything. Yumi did just lose her parents, but she had no right to blame Ulrich for it. She could have met any boy and something could have happened to her parents.

After all, they had no proof X.A.N.A. burned down Yumi's house, it could have been accidental, after all; Yumi did happen to _disappear_ two days before her birthday. And her mother, (since Yumi's dad and Hiroki had moved out already) might have been baking her cake.

Even though she was gone, Ulrich knew that parents had habits of still celebrating that special day regardless of whether their child was dead, missing, or just unable to be there with them. And maybe she was hoping her daughter would return…

Once again, Ulrich felt cold water pour down on him but it wasn't from Odd this time, it was because the shower had run out of hot water.

"Shit!" Ulrich cursed under his breath as he turned off the water and jumped out of the shower. Ulrich then made up his mind not to drown himself; if the shower water was cold, he could only imagine how cold the water would be if he was drowning.

Wanting to get all the thoughts of suicide and Yumi out of his head, Ulrich decided to get ready for school very slowly and skip breakfast to study and get ready for all his classes.

He wasn't very hungry and he couldn't bear to face Yumi today.

xXx

Yumi snapped her alarm clock off, got up, stretched, and got out of bed. Instead of lying there, unwilling to greet the morning sun, the young Asian got out of bed and waddled through piles of clothes and school supplies until finally she reached her dresser.

Opening the top drawer, she pulled out her toiletry items and quickly made her way to the showers before Sissy and her gang took over. Just in time too, Yumi was able to claim a shower stall before the mean crew arrived.

Quickly showering, teen brushed her teeth and got ready for the day in record time. Most of the girls in the bathroom who knew Yumi or what happened to her stared at her in shock. Out of the corner of her eye, Yumi saw the girl whispering to each other; debating on which one should as if Yumi was okay.

Unable to help herself, she smiled and laughed; really laughed. "Don't worry about me," she said "I'm fine. Today's a new day, is it not?"

"Uh, yeah…sure…" One of the girls said, giving a small, hesitant smile.

"Well, see you in class!" Was the only thing the teen said before rushing back to her room to ditch her pajamas and to pick up her backpack.

On her way out, Yumi ran into Sissy and her usual mean crew. At first surprised to see her number one enemy outside of her dorm, Sissy faltered and missed her chance for a snide remark. But Yumi didn't care, she just walked by her, smiled and waved.

"Good morning Sissy, better hurry up and get in the showers before they're all full. After all, you don't wanna miss breakfast, do you? I sure don't!"

And with that, the young Lyoko warrior shuffled away; leaving everyone around her totally flabbergasted.

* * *

Sorry for taking so long to post this chapter, my depression has become much worse these past few weeks.

I'll try to not be this tardy with the next chapter.

[BR0KEN-TYPE-WRITER]


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